Tag: closings

Restaurant, bar, cafe, and food truck closings are the subject some of the most read Portland food news on Bridgetown Bites.

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Four Things I Learned This Week (January 12)

GrindWitTryz opening in old Nico’s Cantina space. Last year I wrote about Nico’s Cantina closing and that space on NE Cully Blvd being empty … again. Well, good news—GrindWitTryz is taking over the space. This restaurant is classified in various places online as a Hawaiian restaurant, but they offer dishes associated with other cultures as well, like chicken katsu (Japanese), pork bulgogi (Korean), and lechon kawali (Filipino), among others.

On January 2 they announced their closing to many sad fans … but less than a week later, they shared the news about their relocating: “If y’all thought we were closing, you thought wrong! Absolutely no one can stop us from spreading aloha in PDX! We are taking over Nico’s Catina! This space is giving us so much opportunity to grow and expand! Our grand opening will be in February.” Welcome to Cully, guys! 4318 NE Cully Blvd, Portland

New menu at Three Fifty Cafe. As they say, “New year, new menu.” The lovely little Vietnamese cafe has changed things up and you can see the new menu here. Stop in for one of the best banh mi sandwiches in town, have some fish sauce wings, and get yourself one of their excellent egg coffees to go with it all. 6205 NE Prescott Street, Portland

Get your Valentine’s treats at Bee’s. Although the cafe is closing, you can still order some of Bee’s fabulous treats for the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday. Head to the website to order—you can order things “Bento Box” style (one of each item offered in a premade box) or build your own box with just the items you want. Orders will be open until Monday, February 6 and you can choose to pick up on Tuesday or Wednesday, February 13 or 14. 7137 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Angel’s Donuts & Ice Cream seems to have closed. A neighbor online asked, “Anyone know what happened to Angels Donuts on Alberta? I walked by Friday and it was dark during business hours, then I drove by today and still dark.” Another neighbor confirmed it. I called, no answer. Yelp also says they have closed. Bummer. If anyone has more insight, drop a comment or an email. 2805 NE Alberta Street, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (January 5)

Fire at the Mercado. Heartbreaking news this week—it happened around 5:30am on January 3. Thankfully there were no injuries or deaths, but it’s still a very sad state of affairs. The Oregonian describes is like this: “Firefighters arrived to find a fire blazing in one of the building’s restaurant stalls and the large building filled with smoke, fire officials said. A second alarm was called but additional crews soon turned back as firefighters on the scene quickly got the blaze under control, including after spotting fires burning in ‘odd void spaces within the ceiling.’”

A fire relief fund has been started and you can give to that, here. 7238 SE Foster Road, Portland

Bee’s Cakes is closing. This sweet cafe at the corner of NE Fremont and 72nd Avenue is closing; January 14 will be their final day for the cafe, and in May the rest of the operation. From Rebecca: “This year has been difficult for us—as well as many other small business. We have had the pleasure of greeting and serving our customers pastries & coffee for the last couple of years, but it is time we switch directions. We will continue to take custom cake & catering orders until May 1st, 2024 and will be opening our calendar to take on more orders until then! We will be closing fully end of that month.”

This is a real loss for Roseway and nearby Cully and Sumner. Best of luck to Rebecca and her expanding family (she became a mom about a month ago), and here’s hoping something great opens up in that space. 7137 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Roam PDX + Bhuna. Roam, known for their handmade roti and “hyper seasonal ingredients” with a presence at the PSU and Montavilla Farmers Markets, will be doing a winter residency at Bhuna Restaurant in NW Portland. They’ll be there Monday and Tuesday evenings from 5pm to 9pm. Here’s the menu, and it sounds pretty good. “Come in and enjoy a cocktail while we put food on plates for ya! We are keeping the word on the street mellow while we get comfortable in the space.” 704 NW 21st Avenue, Portland

Masala Lab offers dinner service. Deepak Saxena of Masala Lab (and who runs the Chaat Wallah food cart in Cully) has launched dinner service at the Lab and went on KGW’s “Hello Rose City” to talk about it. It starts today, January 5. They offer a mix of small, medium, and large plates, which aim to be untraditional, very “fusiony,” and take inspiration from Deepak’s travels and his childhood. A few thing you can expect:

  • Shaved Brussels sprout salad with house-smoked bacon with a curry leaf-chickpea-applesauce-miso dressing.
  • Sorghum pilaf—sorghum is a grain used in India. Note: they are not serving rice at all, and are trying to explore other parts of Indian cuisine, including grains.
  • Roasted delicata squash tossed with roasted pumpkin seeds, served on a cashew and preserved lemon cream (spicy).
  • Burrata chaat—burrata cheese with quince chutney (note: chutneys will change seasonally) served with ghee crositini.

The menu is 100% gluten free, and they plan to rotate it every two to thre months. They also hope to eventually do events and farmers markets and are working on a product line—e.g., chai concentrate, snacky things. Happy Hour is in the works, and will go from 5pm to 6pm, and likely 4pm to 6pm in the summer. After a while, they’d like to expand evening hours on Friday and Saturday until midnight. No reservations yet. 5327 NE MLK Blvd, Portland

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Top 5 Posts On Bridgetown Bites, November 2023

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I haven’t done one of these in a while, so let’s go! As always, thanks for reading.

5. Fusion Curry Pizza Opening in Portland

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On the edge of the northeast corner of the Hollywood District lived Hot Lips Pizza. It closed back in March 2023 and a number of people expressed sadness about that. But according to city documents, a new pizzeria is opening in there: Fusion Curry Pizza. Update: They are open for business.

Continue reading “Top 5 Posts On Bridgetown Bites, November 2023”
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Four Things I Learned This Week (December 1)

The 52nd Annual Gingerbread Masterpiece at The Benson Hotel. At 6pm on Wednesday night, The Benson Hotel revealed their annual gingerbread house—a giant replica of Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle—at a free event for kids (of all ages). It featured, of course, the amazing gingerbread castle, along with holiday music, children’s crafts, cookies, beverages, and a special appearance by Santa. Check it out in their lobby—it will be up until Saturday, December 30. 309 SW Broadway, Portland

Wonderwood Springs has re-opened. You can stop by this cafe, now run by Mike Bennett and continuing to feature his cartoon art, in the St Johns neighborhood. The cafe closed for a while as the business transferred ownership (and some former employees were dismayed by the process), but now it’s back. I visited them in their previous incarnation and to be honest, I was a bit disappointed in the food options. Happily, it looks like the food aspect of the cafe has evolved: Pastry Chef Victoria Ascencio is making a variety of things in-house, and there are new savory options on the menu. Look for pastries, breakfast sandwiches, popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, cheese plates and more. They are open Wednesdays to Sundays from 8am to 10pm. 8811 N Lombard Street, Portland

A Franz Bakery outlet store is closing. Reported on Facebook about the closing: “The Franz Bakery Outlet Store at 14510 SE Stark Street ([open]since 1980) [is closing]. Other locations will remain open. Last day for this store will be December 6th.” 14510 SE Stark Street, Portland

New holiday drink menu at My-O-My drops tomorrow. Glad to see more seasonal drinks being developed at this great east Portland bar. One of the new drinks is the Frosted Candy Cane Slushie, which happens to be non-alcoholic. It’s made with coconut milk, white chocolate, milk chocolate, and peppermint. If you want to make it boozy, they recommend adding Rumplemintz. I can’t wait to see the rest of their festive holiday cocktail menu! 8627 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland